A Canadian girl's tribute to the best cook she's ever known: her Mom

You don’t get any more Ukrainian than Cabbage Rolls. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was fed these as my first experience with “real food” as a baby. Not one special dinner has gone by in our family without cabbage rolls being served. There are many variations. But I can tell you now that nobody’s cabbage rolls compare to the ones that Claudia makes. They are simple the best. Not too tomato soupy, not too cabbagey. They are perfect little delights. However, I learned in this blog process that I apparently haven’t inherited the Ukrainian cabbage rolling gene, as I found the process extremely frustrating. My 1/4 Slovakian genes took over my hands and rendered me incapable of “tucking and rolling” the rice and cabbage. But do not fret kids….if you weren’t blessed with the Ukrainian cooking gene like me, it just takes a bit of practise and patience. …and Claudia laughing at you when you curse the rice that fell from your hands and onto your clean floor.

For the best Cabbage Rolls in the history of the world, you will need:

3 cups short grain rice

6 cups water

3/4 cups margarine (divided into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup)

1 tsp salt

1 lb ground beef

1 onion

1 can tomato soup

2 heads cabbage (boiled, sectioned, frozen and then thawed)

1/4 lb bacon

Salt and pepper to taste

A note about boiling and freezing the cabbage heads:We find that when the cabbage leaves have been boiled then frozen and thawed, they are softer and a lot easier to roll than just boiling and cooling.

We boil the whole cabbage head in a large pot for about a minute. We then peel the top layer off and discard. From there we take the leaves off layer by layer while the cabbage is still in the water. We cool the cabbage leaves on a cookie sheet and once cooled, roll some of the leaves together and freeze. When you are ready to make your cabbage rolls, take leaves out of the freezer and thaw on the counter. We prefer this method because you can buy cabbage when it is in season (summer for us here in Canada) and you can have it available all year round.

Bring 6 cups of water, 1/4 cup margarine, and your 3 cups of short grain rice to a boil and simmer until cooked.

While that is going you might as well brown your bacon along with 1/4 of your onion chopped.

Keep your cooked rice in the large pot.

When your ground beef and onions are cooked, mix in with your white rice and set aside.

Mix your can of tomato soup with 1/2 cup water and set aside.

Next step, bring out the margarine (or butter) and melt with your remaining 1/4 onion chopped.

Lay aluminum foil on the bottom of a large casserole dish and spoon one layer of your tomato soup, bacon and onion mixture.

Now comes the fun part.

Take a cabbage leaf (roughly the size of your hand) and lay it flat.

Take a small spoonful of your rice and beef mixture and place it on the top 1/3 of the cabbage leaf.

Begin to fold the edges over the rice/beef mixture. Seriously, this looks a thousand times easier than it is (at least for me!)

Shape and roll the cabbage leaf and rice/beef mixture to the bottom.

Tuck in both edges of the cabbage roll like so.

Viola!

Place in your casserole dish.

In ten minutes time, (or 30 minutes time if you’re me), you have two nice layers of cabbage rolls in your casserole dish.

In between the first and second layer, and on top of the second layer, add more tomato soup mixture along with bacon and onion.

Remember that margarine (or butter) and onions we melted?

Pour it over the two layers of cabbage rolls.

Amazing.

Lookin’ good!

Cover second layer with a few remaining cabbage leaves and place foil over top.

Bake in a 325 F oven on the middle rack for approximately 3 hours or until cabbage is soft.

One thing Claudia requested I mention (besides the fact that she is a thousand times better at rolling cabbage rolls than I will ever be) is that you can also freeze cabbage rolls and cook them at a later date. We do this often.

Place uncooked cabbage rolls on a baking pan lined with plastic wrap. Wrap thoroughly and freeze up to a few months.

Lay aluminum foil on the bottom of a large casserole dish and spoon one layer of your tomato soup, bacon and onion mixture.

Take a cabbage leaf (roughly the size of your hand) and lay it flat. Take a small spoonful of your rice and beef mixture and place it on the top 1/3 of the cabbage leaf. Begin to fold the edges over the rice/beef mixture. Shape and roll the cabbage leaf and rice/beef mixture to the bottom.Tuck in both edges of the cabbage roll. Place cabbage roll in your casserole dish. Continue to layer cabbage rolls into two layers in your casserole dish. In between the first and second layer, and on top of the second layer, add more tomato soup mixture along with bacon and onion.

Pour melted butter and onions over the two layers of cabbage rolls in the casserole dish.

Cover second layer with a few remaining cabbage leaves and place foil over top.

Bake in a 325 F oven on the middle rack for approximately 3 hours or until cabbage is soft.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Notes

A note about boiling and freezing the cabbage heads: We find that when the cabbage leaves have been boiled then frozen and thawed, they are softer and a lot easier to roll than just boiling and cooling. We boil the whole cabbage head in a large pot for about a minute. We then peel the top layer off and discard. From there we take the leaves off layer by layer while the cabbage is still in the water. We cool the cabbage leaves on a cookie sheet and once cooled, roll some of the leaves together and freeze. When you are ready to make your cabbage rolls, take leaves out of the freezer and thaw on the counter. We prefer this method because you can buy cabbage when it is in season (summer for us here in Canada) and you can have it available all year round.

You can also freeze cabbage rolls and cook them at a later date. Place uncooked cabbage rolls on a baking pan lined with plastic wrap. Wrap thoroughly and freeze up to a few months.

Made these last week for Christmas but we tried a few, just to “test” them, they were the best I’d ever made. Awesome! Made some without the ground beef, but onion and bacon with the rice (as that’s how hubby likes them) and some melted butter and half and half cream poured over, instead of tomato soup. Decadent!

I just found this site while searching for some great Ukrainian recipes. My grandma passed 7 years ago and I never learned any of her recipes. Stupid me! I am going to be trying your Nalysnyky recipe asap. I haven’t had a “fix” for about 10 years. Can’t wait! Oh, also from Saskatchewan….Watson area…tons of Ukrainian heritage there.

Hi Ruth, you simply place the frozen cabbage rolls in your roaster, layer your butter, bacon, onions and tomato soup and bake! Claudia bakes her cabbage rolls from frozen all the time and they turn out great.

Hi Luann. Happy Holidays! Unfortunately I’ve never had cabbage rolls with that type of filling. Our family only makes the traditional filling that you see in the posted recipe. The potatoes and grits filling sounds interesting. I’d like to try that one day.

Hi there I come from Ukrainian heritage myself and grew up having cabbage rolls at every family gathering! Unfortunately I never learned to make them from my Grandmother before I moved to South Africa and so I haven’t had them in over 20 years!! my grandmother was never really one for the email or internet and sadly she passed away this past year. I would really like to honour her memory by ‘rekindling’ this tradition with my own family and so would like to thank you very much for posting this recipe. I have one small question however. I’m pretty sure, going through the steps and ingredients I see listed that this recipe is very close to that of my grandmothers (bacon, tomato soup, etc) the only critical ingredient that appears to be missing would be that of the ‘kasha’ or ‘buckwheat’. Critical only to me and the memory of my tastebuds! LOL would you perhaps be able to suggest how I might adapt this recipe to include this? Would it be added to the rice while cooking or replace the rice entirely? And if its meant to be added, would you have an approximate measurement or quantity to suggest? Thank you so much! I’m looking very forward to trying this out (with or without the buckwheat! LOL) Happy New Year! God Bless, Tess

Hi Tess! Happy New Year to you as well! Thank you for sharing your story. I’m glad you can find some comfort in our Cabbage Roll recipe We have never made our cabbage roll recipe with buckwheat, but from what I understand, you simply replace the rice with buckwheat. The recipes I’ve seen have usually used 1-1/2 to 2 cups cooked buckwheat. I am now curious to make our own cabbage roll recipe with buckwheat, so thank you very much again for your comments! All the best!

Just tried your recipe today. They we’re great though my better half (the Ukrainian half) wants to try to double the meat next time (we favor a lower carb diet). But this is absolutely a great recipe. Thank you! Very close to his grandmother’s recipe.

Thanks for your feedback Tracy! You can’t go wrong with double meat So glad you and your better half enjoyed the cabbage rolls and that they reminded you of your Grandmother’s. That’s pretty much the best compliment ever

I never really learned how to make cabbage rolls from my Ukrainian parents. (Dad spent just as much time in the kitchen as Mum) I therefore had no skills to pass on to my daughter. One day she blew my socks off with the best cabbage rolls ever which was the recipe she got from your website. Well I finally made them yesterday and they are fantastic! Thanks for reconnecting me to my heritage. I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
Thanks so much, Chris

Thank you so much for sharing Chris! Your comment seriously warmed my heart. I’m so glad you enjoyed the cabbage rolls and it connected you to your heritage That is really the whole reason why we started this blog in the first place!! Thanks again!

Hi Luba! Thank you so much for your kind comment. I’m glad our holobchi recipe helped you out! I was very intimidated the first time I made them as well but found the images and making them with my Mom helped. Regarding chlystu, I know exactly what you’re talking about. My family never really made them before but I can try to find a recipe to try for you! I’ve had them before and they are yummy. I have never posted the recipe for my Baba’s meatballs only because I don’t have it. I do believe my Mom (Claudia) does so I will post it in the new year!

I’m so glad I stumbled onto this recipe. My wife and my favorite way to spend a Saturday morning and afternoon is cooking something together, the longer it takes the better! That’s what Saturdays are made for. We just took these out of the oven and they’re so delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe, and know that you have given us a new favorite recipe for cold Michigan Saturdays!

Hi Jonathan! I am SO happy you enjoyed the cabbage roll recipe! You and your wife sound totally adorable. I firmly believe that a couple that cooks together, stays together. All the best and stay warm in Michigan

I just found your website. I would like to try the cabbage rolls. I am wondering about what kind of cabbage you used. It seems wrinkled and not like the kind I have seen in the store which seems flatter and thicker. Is it a special kind?

Hi Roxanne, no special kind. We use cabbage we find at farmers markets in the summer but you can use the typical variety you find in your local store. It appears “wrinkly” because it’s been boiled, frozen and thawed. That way it’s softer and easier to handle.

Hi Jaime,
I will definitely try the Claudia’s recipe. My recipe is a little different: I do not cook rice until cooked, just pour on it boiling water and leave it for 1 or 2 hours. And I do not cook the meat, mix it with rice raw. Then I cook the голубці in broth or water and serve with sour cream.

Hi Lesya: Just a little tip..1. only partially cook your rice (it must be short grain makes for stickier much easier to roll rice) 2. for rolling the holubsi..when the leaf is in your hand put the rice mixture on the bottom 3rd of the leaf, fold the sides over the rice, bottom edge over rice & with your heal of your thumb you are pushing & rolling the holubsi up to the top…way easier..try it. Let me know how it works for you..I’m Ukrainian & have been making holubsi for years. The stickier the rice the easier it is to roll.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Jaime! I'm a Ukrainian-Canadian gal trying to make my mother (Claudia) proud by learning how to make all her traditional family recipes, and a few of my own in between. I hope you enjoy this blog and our recipes as much as I do.